Reply to NY times op ed on the teacher crisis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Let's say everyone here is right: teaching has perks that outweigh the negatives, and if teachers are complaining it's just because they don't know what it's like in other jobs. Even if that's so, the shortage was grossly apparent in 2019 (https://www.epi.org/publication/the-teacher-shortage-is-real-large-and-growing-and-worse-than-we-thought-the-first-report-in-the-perfect-storm-in-the-teacher-labor-market-series/) and has only gotten worse.

So you say, "teachers shouldn't be complaining and they shouldn't be quitting because the job isn't that bad." But the reality is, [i]they are[/i]. Experienced teachers are quitting, new teachers are quitting, and enrollment in teacher education programs is way down (https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/what-teacher-preparation-enrollment-looks-like-in-charts/2023/08#:~:text=Teacher%2Dprep%20enrollment%20over%20the%20past%20decade&text=From%202009%2D10%20through%202014,of%20the%20pandemic%2C%20Fuller%20said.).

Saying it [i]shouldn't[/i] be happening doesn't make it [i]not happen.[/i]

[/quote]

I agree we need to make sure teaching is a desirable profession, both in order to attract great people into teaching and also to ensure the people teaching our kids have high job satisfaction and like their jobs. Both are very important to me.

What I wish is that teachers and parents viewed each other as allies in making that happen, and in making schools great places to learn AND work. It is disheartening to see teachers saying that parents are the primary reason they are leaving the profession, or engaging in arguments about who works harder or has it tougher, parents or teachers. The truth is that most parents do not have high paying, easy, flexible jobs. They are also struggling in their own ways.

When we see each other as adversaries, we all lose.[/quote]

Yes, which is why it was so disappointing that so many parents bullied and shat all over teachers during the pandemic.

-Parent
[/quote]

Politicians did a great job of exploiting animosity between teachers and parents during the pandemic. Teachers (and administrators, and teachers unions) did PLENTY of complaining, bullying, "$hitting" on parents during the pandemic, during a time when parents should have been viewed as true allies since they were mostly at home with kids facilitating virtual school. Instead parents were scolded for not wanting to spend time with their kids (that was never the issue, most parents I know relished the extra time with kids), told "school isn't childcare" (it explicitly is), gaslit that "school is open, it's just the building that's closed" (come ooooooon) and were expected to pivot constantly to adapt to virtual school, hybrid, masking policies, rolling quarantines, etc. I was also a big fan of "just get a nanny" and "whatever, it's not like you're actually working anyway" (actually, yes! we were).

If you can't see how that situation went both ways, then you obviously weren't a parent during the pandemic. Because yes, teachers took abuse during Covid closures and I'm not endorsing that, but being a parent was not some glorious vacation. Unless you think working at 2am every night for months because you spent half the day surprising virtual school and trying to meet your kids basic needs sounds like a beach retreat.[/quote]

Bullcrap. Teachers were not "bullying" parents. There is no bOtH sIdEs here. I heard parents - during virtual school, with kids present(!) - actually scream and curse out teachers.

The pandemic was tough on a lot of people. That didn't give parents the right to crap on teachers. 
[/quote]

NP.

[b]When over 90% of FFX teachers had received the vaccine (after they put themselves first in line) the FCPS STILL refused to open schools[/b], and kept kids virtual.  That decision to kowtow to teachers groups by the extreme-progressive school board, hurt low SES kids and families the most, BTW.

And reasonable minds - such as the government of Sweden - differed on the claimed “need” to close school buildings.

The Swedes kept kids in school and avoided all the damage to children’s mental well being (not to mention learning loss) that we here in Fairfax needlessly inflicted on children (especially poor children).  Kids and teachers in Sweden did not die off by the thousands as FFX school administrators claimed would happen if they stopped going virtual.

[/quote]

Such blatant LIES.

Let’s review the facts: 
Jan 16, 2021 - Fairfax starts vaccinating teachers 
https://www.wric.com/news/virginia-news/all-fairfax-county-public-school-employees-are-now-eligible-for-covid-19-vaccine/amp/

Jan 25, 2021 - vaccine shortages cause delays; 5k/40k employees have first dose
https://wjla.com/amp/news/local/vaccine-shortage-could-delay-some-fcps-staff-from-getting-first-dose

Jan 28, 2021 - Braband is targeting to start bringing kids back to the buildings on Feb 16; 7k/40k employees have first dose  
https://wtop.com/coronavirus/2021/01/fairfax-county-resumes-covid-19-vaccination-for-educators-school-staff/

Feb 2, 2021 - school board approves plan to bring back kids starting Feb 16
https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-unanimously-supports-superintendents-plan-bring-all-students-back

Feb 2, 2021 - vaccines continue, 7k/30k educators had first dose; teachers in the first round of vaccinations are eligible for second dose
https://www.wusa9.com/amp/article/news/education/fairfax-county-public-schools-return-to-in-person-learning-teachers-vaccines-covid/65-aabcf74d-05f4-4290-aba4-93858f7a969b

Feb 16 - FCPS starts bringing back kids to the buildings in phases. The very earliest that the first wave of teachers is protected by the vaccine (2 weeks following 2nd dose).  
https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/files/BZ5T9F7644C1/$file/SB%20Narrative%20Report_3-16-21.pdf

Most teachers weren’t fully vaccinated when kids started returning to school.  
[/quote]

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